Dr Tatiana Filosofova

Modern Languages Teaching Centre (MLTC)

Teaching Associate in Russian

t.filosofova@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 7153
Ella Armitage Building

Full contact details

Dr Tatiana Filosofova
Modern Languages Teaching Centre (MLTC)
Ella Armitage Building
40 Leavygreave Road
Sheffield
S3 7RD
Qualifications

I hold a degree with distinction in Russian language and literature from St. Petersburg State University (Russia) and a PhD in Russian Studies from the University of St. Andrews (UK). My first degree includes a teaching qualification in Russian language and literature. Additionally, I have received training on curricular design and teaching methodology of total immersion language programs at the Curricular Design Institute (STARTALK, US).

Research interests

My research interests lie in two areas: Russian folklore and the methodology of teaching Russian as a second language. More specifically I focus on the folklore, literary tradition, and the intellectual history of the Russian Old Believers.  I travelled many times, as a member of academic expeditions, to the Urals, the far north regions of Russia, and Latvia to closely observe, record and study the unique and well-preserved folklore, cultural and literary traditions of the Russian Old Believers’ communities of those regions. I published, in the field of the Russian Old Believers’ studies, a book entitled Geistliche Lieder der Altgläubigen in Russland. My book is the first academic study to provide a comprehensive account of the Christian folk poetry repertoire belonging to two large groups of Russian Old Believers, who live close together in northern Russia and in the Baltic States. In the field of the Russian folklore studies I have also published a book chapter “Back to the Future: Popular Belief in Russia Today”, co-authored with Jeanmarie Rouhier-Willoughby in the edited collection “The Changing World Religion Map”; ten articles and two catalogues of earlier unpublished Christian folk poetry.

I have been teaching Russian language classes for many years and have developed a large library of teaching materials for all my language courses. This includes on-line and printed materials: course books and oral workbooks, published for in-house use; on-line presentations, video clips; on-line tests and quizzes etc. In my teaching practice I always seek to identify points that present special challenges to my students and to find original ways to address these issues. I have applied my innovative methodological approaches to the recently published 2nd edition of my textbook, DA! A Practical Guide to Russian Grammar.

Grants
  • 2019-2020: University of North Texas (US) Charn grant; grant author. Grant supports curriculum development based on my project Magic of Music. Grant total $5, 000 – awarded.
  • 2018-2020: STARTALK (US) teaching grant for the critical languages (Russian) summer school; grant author, principal investigator and program director. Grant total $89,804 – awarded.
  • 2017-2019: STARTALK (US) teaching grant for the critical languages (Chinese and Russian) summer school; grant author, principal investigator and program director. Grant total $86,018 – awarded.
  • 2016-2018: STARTALK (US) teaching grant for the critical languages (Russian) summer school; grant author, principal investigator and program director. Grant total $88,056 – awarded.
  • 2015-2020: NEH (US) Collaborative Research Grant for the project “Russian Religious Folk Imagination”; grant co-author; (pro bono on-going research).
  • 2012 and 2013: University of Kentucky (US) travel grant for presenting at an international conference; $2,000 – awarded.
  • 2009: VG Wort (Germany) research and publication; € 4,900 – awarded.
  • 2007: Carnegie Trust award (UK) research publication; £2,000 – awarded.
  • 2005: Rubric award, University of St. Andrew’s (UK); £800 – awarded.
Teaching activities

Currently, I teach and assess the following MLTC undergraduate modules:

  • MLT903& MLT903 Russian Beginner 1& Russian Beginner 2 (Languages for All)
  • MLT01046 & MLT01047 Russian intermediate 1 & Russian Intermediate 2
  • MLT010148 & MLT01049 Russian Advanced 1 & Russian Advanced 2

My teaching portfolio includes the following undergraduate Russian courses that I previously taught:

  • Advanced Russian for Business Studies.
  • Advanced Russian Communication Skills.
  • Advanced Russian for Professional Communication. 
  • Advanced Russian Composition and Conversation.
  • Advanced Interpreting and Translation.
  • Advanced Russian for Sciences.
  • Russian Folk Art.
  • Advanced Topic on the Classical Russian Novel.
  • Advanced Readings in Contemporary Russian Literature.
  • Advanced Readings on Russian Philosophy.
  • Advanced Russian Grammar.
  • Russian through Music and Film.
  • Intermediate Russian I.
  • Intermediate Russian II.
  • Elementary Russian I.
  • Elementary Russian II.
  • Mixed skills language classes at all levels (elementary, intermediate, and advanced).
  • Russian through Film and Media at all levels (elementary, intermediate, and advanced).
  • Russian Grammar classes at all levels (elementary, intermediate, and advanced).
  • Conversational classes (oral skills) at all levels (elementary, intermediate, and advanced).
  • Post A-level Russian.

Courses on Russian culture (advanced elective course taught in English):

  • Russian Popular Culture.
  • Russian Folklore and Magic.
  • Contemporary Russian Culture from 1900 to Present.
  • Mapping Russia: St. Petersburg in Russian Literature, Art, Film and Music.
  • Seminar on Russian films.
  • An introductory course in Early Russian Literature and Russian Folklore.
  • Orthodoxy and Russian Self-perception.
  • Russians in their Folk Poetry, Legends, Tales, and Anecdotes.
  • An introductory course to Russian Literature from the Medieval Period to the 20th century.
  • 19th century Russian literature (poetry and prose).
  • Early 20th century Russian literature:  The Silver Age of Russian Poetry.
  • Soviet Period (Socialist Realism in Russian Art and Literature).
  • Contemporary Russian Female Writers.

Postgraduate courses:

  • Accelerated Elementary Russian for postgraduate students.
  • Accelerated Intermediate Russian for postgraduate students.
  • Intensive individually tailored Russian courses for postgraduate students.
  • Advanced Russian Translation for the MLitt program.
  • A postgraduate interdisciplinary course Film and Issues of European Identity.
  • St. Petersburg – Symbols of the City, St. Petersburg in Russian Literature, Art, Film and Music.
  • The History and Influence of Russian Culture through the Centuries.
Professional activities and memberships
  • Member of the Editorial Board for the peer-reviewed Journal of Comparative Studies, Daugavpils, Latvia, 2017-present.
  • The Books Editor for “Folklorica”, the peer-reviewed Journal of the Slavic, East European and Eurasian Folklore Association; 2015–2021.
  • An external reviewer of a proposal for a “Russian for all Occasions: A Russian-English Thematic Dictionary of Phrases and Collocations” for Routledge, a British multinational publisher; spring 2015.
  • An external reviewer of the volume Man in the Context of Language, Literature and Culture University of Daugavpils Press (Latvia); 2016.
  • Russian External Examiner to Trinity College, Dublin (Ireland) for the Business Studies and Language Degree Program; 2007-2010.
  • Russian External Examiner for the part-time language program at Leeds Beckett University (UK); 2012-2015.
Publications

Books:

  • Geistliche Lieder der Altgläubigen in Russland, Böhlau Verlag, Köln Weimar (Germany), 2010; 464 pp.
  • Da! A Practical Guide to Russian Grammar (textbook) the 2nd edition; Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group (UK), 2020, 301 pp.
  • Da! A Practical Guide to Russian Grammar (textbook), the 1st edition; principal author, co-authored with Marion Sporing, Oxford: Hodder Education, 2012, 301 pp.
  • Russian literature: Eleventh to Nineteenth Centuries (textbook), co-authored with Marina Abashina and Sergei Zakharav, SPbGTU University Press, St. Petersburg (Russia), 1998, 104pp.

Chapters in Edited Collections:

  • Back to the Future: Popular Belief in Russia Today, co-authored with Jeanmarie Rouhier-Willoughby (book chapter), The Changing World Religion Map, Volume III, Stanley Brunn, ed, 2015, pp. 1531-1554.

Articles (Peer-Reviewed Journals):

  • Religious Poetry of Literary Origin in the Manuscript Tradition of the Russian Old Believers. Journal of Comparative Studies. Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences. Daugavpils University, 2017. Volume 10 (39); Daugavpils Iniversitates: Akademiskais Apgads “Saule” (Latvia), pp. 48-60.
  • Poems on the Conversion of the Old Believer Monastery into the Edinoverie Monastery, Mezhdunarodnye Zavolokinskie Chteniia. 2016, Volume 4, Riga (Latvia), pp. 233-250.
  • A Love Story by a Distinguished Russian Old-Believer Storyteller from Latgalia, co-authored with Jelena Koroleva, Daugavpils State University (Latvia), Folklorica 2016, Volume XX, pp. 47-81.
  • Eschatological Folk Songs and Poetry in the Manuscript Tradition of the Russian Old Believers of Latgale, Folklorica 2013, Volume XVII, pp. 38-65.
  • A song about the Crimean war Siadem, bratsy, vkrugovuiu in the Manuscript Tradition of the Russian Old Believers. Humanitaro Zinatnu Vestnesis. 2009, Vol. 16; Daugavpils Iniversitates: Akademiskais Apgads “Saule” (Latvia), pp. 7-19.
  • The Anonymous poetry in the Manuscript tradition of the Russian Old Believers of Latgale. Latgale as a Culture Border Zone. Comparative Studies. 2009, Vol. II (1); Daugavpils Iniversitates: Akademiskais Apgads “Saule” (Latvia), pp. 71-8
  • Dukhovnye stikhi staroobriadtsev Pribaltiki. Russian Folklore, 1999, Vol. 30; Russian Academia of Sciences, St. Petersburg (Russia), pp. 431-45.
  • Intsipitarii dukhovnykh stikhov po materialam Drevlekhranilishcha IRLI. Ural’skii Sbornik; Ekaterinburg (Russia), 1998, pp. 90-111.
  • Myzukal’no-poeticheskoe nasledie Pomorskogo Severa v Viatskoi staroobriadcheskoi traditsii co-authored with Marina Kazantseva, Ural’skii Sbornik; Ekaterinburg (Russia), 1998, pp. 81-90.
  • Dukhovnye stikhi staroobriadtsev Russkogo Severa. Sbornik nauchnykh statei Syktyvkarskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta; Syktyvkar (Russia), 1997, pp. 31-44.

Conference Proceedings:

  • An Innovative Approach to an In-class Group and Pair Work at the Novice Level, 2018, presentation, on-line publication at
  • https://startalk.umd.edu/public/resources/2018fallpresentations
  • Russian for Professional Communication Course at the University of North Texas, CARTA Research Journal, Central Association of Russian Teachers of America, №. 3, 2017, pp. 8-9.
  • Developing Students’ Vocational Skills: Teaching Interpreting at the Intermediate Level, CARTA Research Journal, Central Association of Russian Teachers of America, №. 3, 2017, pp. 10-11.
  • Cultural Context in the Classroom at Novice Level, 2017, an article and presentation, on-line publication at https://startalk.umd.edu/public/system/files/resources/filosofova_paper.pdf
  • A Language Course for Russian Heritage Speakers “Russian in a Russian Cultural Context” (for the University of North Texas program), Materials of the XIII International Congress MAPRYAL, Vol. 10, St. Petersburg (Russia), 2015, pp.1049-1054.
  • Teaching Russian Verbs of Motion through Games and Songs, CARTA Research Journal, Central Association of Russian Teachers of America, №. 2, 2015, pp.32-33.
  • The Religious Songs included in the Old Believer Books published by Hectograph. Materials of the 6th International congress on culture of the Russian Lipovane, 2013, Tulcha (Romania), pp.34-55.
  • Moto perpetuum” in poetry by Alexandra Petrova, Człowiek, Świadomość, Komunikacja, Internet; Instytut Rusycustiki: Warszawa; 2012, pp. 1407-1415.
  • History of the Russian Old Belivers. An unknown poem by A.A.Nadezhdin. Materialy Nauchnykh Chtenii; Daugavpils Iniversitates: Akademiskais Apgads “Saule” (Latvia), 2012, pp. 119-125.
  • Staroobridcheskii dukhovnyi stikh Ptich’e Zhitie Serapiona Poniavnika. Materialy Nauchnykh Chtenii; Daugavpils Iniversitates: Akademiskais Apgads “Saule”, (Latvia), pp.3-15.
  • The Advanced Russian Courses “Russian Communication Skills” and “Russian for Business Study” Materials of the XI International Congress MAPRYAL, Heron Press, Sofia (Bulgaria), Vol. 6 (2), 2007,  pp.429-434.